Becoming Dolores Jane
by fandomaddicted
Summary: It is the story of Dolores Jane Umbridge's early life. It explains why she became like she is, why she sided with Lord Voldemort, why she hates Hybrids so much.
1. Chapter 1

**Becoming Dolores Jane**

_Chapter One_

No one in his right mind would ever cross the strict rules of the caretaker, but ten-year-old Dolores was ruthless. The day was cold, and her dirty, old clothes didn't keep her as warm as she wanted, but this was not going to stop her. The small creek dividing the property where her mother served as a maid and the next Manor was flowing fast. She jumped on a rock midway across the edges and then on the opposite edge. Her light skirt flew around her legs a blow of wind chilled her bones. She would catch a cold for sure, and her mother would be mad. It didn't matter. She had to go or everyone would think she was a coward.

The Selwyn Manor was not far, and she often crept over the trees to watch their children play. Some of them were from London. Their rich families sent them in the countryside during the war, and a few cousins still came to visit once in a while. She could never afford to play like that. Her mother worked for the family in the small house near Selwyn Manor, full time. They weren't pure-bloods, the Laurchins, and serving a half-blood family was even more humiliating than being a maid. Their status wasn't very high. Dolores didn't even know her own last name. She knew the lie her mother told Mr. Laurchin, but she knew her last name wasn't really Ferell. Every time she asked her mother she said it wasn't the time to discuss it. They were despised by everyone, and no child would play with her, some even said they were Squibs. Well, Dolores was no Squib, and she would not forgive anyone for calling her that.

She wanted so bad to be like the Selwyns, she would go spy on them every day, until their caretaker caught her and ordered one of the Selwyns' house elves to keep her away from the borders. She tried again, but this time the children saw her, covered in scratches for going on the most unusual path to avoid get caught by the elf. Knowing the whole story with the caretaker, the children dared her to come back again. She would not let them win. They were just messing with her, she knew, but if she proved she was worthy, maybe they will let her in their garden.

She climbed the tree until reaching the branch stretching over the fence and started slithering on it. Dolores wasn't even halfway through the branch when she hit something so hard she nearly fell over. What happened? She stretched out a hand and touched something invisible stopping her from crossing the boundaries of the manor. A barrier. She looked down and found out she was just over the fence. A magical barrier had been created to keep her out. She could never get him again.

Looking at the garden, in a distance, she saw the Selwyns children laughing, and pointing at her. They ran closer and closer. Before she could run away, they were under her branch.

"What's the problem Squib? Don't know what kept you out? It's called magic!" The oldest boy laughed and everyone followed. Dolores hated him, and at the same time she wanted to accepted by him. She didn't answer.

"Hey! Did the cat steal your tongue? Not a smart-mouth anymore huh?"

"Shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up Squib! How you dare talk to me? I'm a Selwyn!"

She didn't have any good answer, so she just climbed down the tree, laughter in her ears, and ran back home, crying.

She still heard the laughs in her ears, even though she was half a mile away now. How could she be so foolish? She should have know they would never let her in. They tricked her into coming so she would be humiliated, and now she would never have the face to show up again. Smart. But they could not win this.

Dolores ran for a long time, not knowing where she was going. The name, Squib, still lingered in her head. What if she really was? Her mother wasn't, she had a wand and everything, but she didn't really show any particular sign of magic, as far as she knew. It was time to find out. In a few months she would be eleven and she would go to Diagon Alley to get her wand. The thought of staying a long time in Olivander's shop just to find out she had no powers was far too humiliating, she had to know before that.

How did young witches and wizard show their powers? Some just appeared in their ordinary lives, with funny results or hilarious consequences. Well it was clear this wasn't her case. There was another option. Some showed a particular magic ability in case of danger or distress, aimed to save them. It was risky, but she was willing to try. It was perfect.

She knew a crag close by, if she jumped over and somehow survived, it would mean she was after all a witch. Otherwise, if she was a Squib, she would want to face life anyway.

She was standing at the edge. All the bravery flew away went she saw the crag. No hope of surviving unless some power showed up. Was she really willing to do that? Before she could change her mind, she decided to take a run for it. She backed away a few steps, and run towards the edge. Her feet were running, her head was trying to stop her, but she concentrated on her feet only, and on the idea of magic itself. Somehow, she thought it could help. When she jumped, she felt the wind on her face, and felt terrified. She was going to die, she didn't feel any power saving her, anything at all. After a split second of pure terror, she regretted it, and thought that maybe her power would show in another way, but now, it never would. She despised herself for thinking that, in the same second she did, she was supposed to hate Squibs and be a good witch. Her death was right, it was going to make the world a better place, with one less Squib.

She still hadn't finished that thought, that she hit on something, hard, but not as hard as the ground at the bottom would be. Her bones ached, but she wasn't dead.

"Hey gal! What were ya tryin' to do?"

"…What?"

"You jumped over a freakin' crag! Where ya tryin' to kill yourself?"

Who was that man? He put her down on her feet and she looked all over him. He smelled like garbage and had rusty, long hair. His clothes were filthy and cut in many places. No wizard would live like that. The question was: Squib or Muggle? Either way, she hated him. He had no business here, near the wizard community. But maybe he had business with her, after all she might be a Squib.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. She wanted to know if he knew of the wizarding world or not.

"Lookin' for something to eat. A man can't live of air, can he now?"

Muggle. Definitely a Muggle. No wizard would try to find food in a forest. No Squib either. If she were a squib, she would go to London and try to get a humble job.

She hated him for saving her, for preventing her to find out if she had powers or not after all. The hatred filled her so much, she stepped away and looked at him with disgust. A filthy Muggle saved her. She was dirty for being saved by such a despicable being.

The moment her hatred reached a peak, she watched the man before her eyes crumble to the ground and scream in pain, crouching on himself.

"What the hell?"

"Are you all right?" She asked more curious than concerned, she actually felt an internal realization for that sufferance, but she wasn't going to show it. He looked up to her. That was new. She had always been very short, even for her age, and no one ever looked up to her. She liked that.

"I… I dunno… My body just ached so much and…"

She felt that hatred again. Filthy ignorant Muggle, answer a witch's question!

As she thought that, pain seemed to go through the man's body again. This was when she realized.

It was her. She was causing that pain, her hatred converted to pain for a filthy Muggle! That was what magic was for.

"I know what that is." She spoke with new confidence, standing over him with a new light in her eyes. "It's what you deserve, you filthy Muggle!"

"What did ya call me? And I just saved yo life!"

"I don't need your help!" She tried to forget that he did save her life. "I'm more than you will ever be!"

With that, she ran away and sprinted for the road that would get her home. She wanted to tell her mom , but she somehow doubted she would be happy about her daughter torturing a Muggle.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

Her mother was a strange woman. Dolores always thought she was pureblood. Her magic was just so wonderful. She was so good with charms and house-hold enchantments. But she was so kind with everyone. She seemed to love the family they served. Even the evil and stupid Mr. Laurchin, who treated everyone like they were inferior.

When Dolores got home, it was later than she expected. Her mother would sure be worried, and she would have to explain.

"Mother, I'm home."

She wasn't afraid of her reaction, but her heart was pounding. She was going to ask for her family tree, and she was not going to take a _NO_ for an answer.

"Dolores! Where have you been all day? I was worried sick!"

"I'm sorry mother, but something stunning happened today!" Her voice became high pitched when she was excited.

"What happened dear? Should I be worried?"

"No mother, be glad instead." And Dolores told her mother the whole story. She looked her in the eyes, looking for a reaction, even though she knew she would not see any emotion. Her mother was very good at hiding her thoughts, and she would not say anything until she was done.

Telling her about the trick played by the Selwyn children was painful, but she took her revenge when talking about the Muggle. Her voice seemed almost a canary's.

When she was done her mother stood still for a second, staring at her daughter in silence.

"Dolores, why are you excited about this?"

"I am a witch! I am more than all of them! Why are you not excited about it?"

"You tortured an innocent man, who just saved your life, and you are happy about it?"

"He was a Muggle!"

"So what?"

"So what? You taught me Muggles are not worthy of being among us!"

"No I didn't! I always told you what the world thought about them, leaving you to decide for yourself. It seems you let other people's beliefs influence you."

"These aren't beliefs! It is the truth!"

"Dolores, it's time you knew your family's story. Sit, and listen, maybe you will see reason afterwards."

Dolores sat on a chair, and waited, half concerned about her mother's opinion, half excited about her family's story coming.

"When I was your age, my last name was known in all England. All at its time Dolores, I'll tell you the last name later." She added when Dolores seemed about to interrupt to ask something. "Pure blood status was very important at the time, mostly because Muggles were fighting a war between nations, and our world was being destroyed because of them. Anti-Muggles sentiments were really popular, but our kind was forced to hide. Too many people still believed in witch and magical stories to allow us to be in the open like now. A small charm can go undercover now, but at the time, people were very suspicious. I was young and shallow, I didn't care if a few Muggles died or lived, I only cared about my family and friends, and about my school crush. A guy I fancied for all my seven years at Hogwarts. He was a half-blood. His parents were both Muggle-born, and all my friends despised him., his name was Peter Umbridge I didn't know how to justify my feelings for him, so, for years, I didn't say anything. My family would never approve, and I resigned to marry whoever they wanted, I wouldn't love them anyway.

It was my seventh year when he finally understood that I wasn't like the rest of them. We snuck in the north tower in an empty room for months, before my parents announced I was going to get married to a family friend. He was shocked by the news, even though we knew it was coming. We kept away for the rest of the year.

"I didn't see him again until the day of my wedding, when he showed up and I burst into tears at the altar. I couldn't marry that guy. His name was Blaise Westell, pure blood, but a total idiot. I ran away.

My father tried to stop me with an Incanceramus charm, but Peter engaged a duel with him to let me escape. He barely escaped from him. I heard on the news he was hospitalized in San Mungo.

I was destroyed, socially and emotionally, so I ran in the Muggle world, and a kind stranger took me in his house and let me rest there for days. He was a Muggles, and he didn't know anything about wizards and witches.

"I lived for years in the Muggle world, and my life seemed to be nice. One day Peter knocked at my door. He had been chased by my father for the past few years, and now he succeeded into tracking him down, right at the same moment when he tracked me down.

I had looked for him, but mostly, I didn't want to cause any troubles for him.

He was badly hurt. I let him in and he spent a few days in my house. I was so happy to see him again. We spent more time together then we ever could, and for a few days, my life was paradise. We barely left the house, we just caught up on all the time we'd lost.

"My father found us. He came into the house and immobilized me with a spell and killed Peter before my eyes. He then cast a spell on me, and found out I was pregnant, with you Dolores. He made sure I couldn't get married ever again, with a spell on me he made every man who looked at me see a filthy mud-blood. So that you would be born as a bastard child. I had no choice. I hid and lived in the anonymous, raising you away from all that sick way of living." Ramona Umbridge had tears in her eyes now, and she couldn't look at her daughter.

But Dolores was staring blankly at her mother's hair. It was a heart touching story alright, but nothing would have happened if she weren't foolish enough to fall in love with a mud-blood. Now that she knew her father's heritage, and was not happy about it, she only cared about her mother's last name. A feeble hope of being a respectable witch still existed.

"What was your last name mother? Well… What IS it? You and father weren't married right?" Her expression muted, from indifference to disgust. How could she even do such a thing?

Her mother looked up to her, and Dolores's face startled her. Her expression was so like her mother's.

"Dolores…"

"Tell me mother."

"Selwyn, my last name is Selwyn."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

Dolores slept awfully that night. Evil Muggles and mud-bloods took her away from her house and a beautiful young wizard saved her from certain death in their hands. When she reveled him she was a Selwyn though, he called her a liar and hit her. She woke with a start.

The room was empty and dark. Her mother was sleeping beside her. They could only afford one bedroom and one bed, which they shared. Now that she knew who she really was she could not accept living like this.

From outside the moonlight came into the room, and Dolores had just enough light to see all her poor possessions in the corner of the room. A few skirts and shirts too big for her, only one dress she wore for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. Her only pair of shoes is lying against the wall, still dirty from last night walk in the woods. What a day it had been. No chances she could sleep again now.

She shoved her feet in the shoes and took a blanket from the pile on the floor. She dragged it outside and stood in the garden. She was a pureblood. That life wasn't suit for her, or for her mother. Why did she choose it? How could she abandon her family, step over the values she had been taught, and ran away to live among the Muggles? It made no sense to her. Dolores had a whole different idea of her mother. She thought of her as a woman a bit too humble maybe, but never as a blood-traitor. Now she could not think of her without an expression of disgust forming on her face. Her mother, who was supposed to raise her in the best environment possible, to teach her what was good and wrong, and how to survive in this world, chose to exile herself and her daughter into a half-blood family servants society. That family was not even rich enough to get a house elf to present at their door, and they, pureblood Selwyns, should serve them? No, that was not going to last.

Dolores was determined to change the situation. She would turn eleven in a few months, and when she had a wand and an access to a library at school, she could find a way to prove she was a Selwyn, and look at the whole family-tree.

She always wanted to go to Hogwarts, but now she was so eager she couldn't stand the wait.

As determined as she was, she had no means of doing anything for now. Her life went on like usual, only her attitude towards it changed. When she met Mr. Laurchin she was not shy anymore. She felt superior and looked at him in the eyes.

While she was to the local market with her mother they met Mrs. Selwyn with a couple of her children, Matthew and Dylan. Matthew was the eldest one, the one who laughed at her that day on the tree. She felt better now, knowing she was actually one of them. But she couldn't just go and tell him, it would look stupid and pretentious, with no proof supporting her.

When they passed smirking at her though, she held their gaze and kept her head high, walking with dignity down the alley.

For Dolores, a new life started. Even though she could do nothing to change things, she felt different towards things, and this changed everything.

Before she knew, months had passed. The cold English spring was over and her birthday was in a matter of days.

Usually her birthday was just a day off work for both her and her mother, a small homemade cake and a sweet day spent together. But this was her eleventh birthday, a very special one, and even if the relationship with her mother was as cold as ice, she intended to ask her for a wand.

"Mother" In front of the small fireplace in their little house, her mother was knitting.

"Yes Dolores?"

"Next week is my birthday."

"I know dear."

"It's my eleventh. Do I get a wand?"

"A wand? You don't know any spells! And you can't practice magic outside Hogwarts anyway."

"I know. But I want one."

"A wand is expensive dear."

"We should be able to afford one, if we were still inside the Selwyn family."

"Let's not get started on this again Dolores. I made my choice." Her tone was cold, there was no going back to the family. "My father made it very clear to me I would not be allowed near them ever again. We are on our own."

"But I still need a wand."

"I know, sooner or later, We will have to get you one for school. Maybe you could have mine, I don't use it much anyway…"

"I will not have another person's wand! I am pureblood witch, I need my own, not a stolen one!" Her face expressed very well her disgust, her repulsion towards that horrible thought.

"Mind your tone young lady!" Her mother's eyes became hard as stone, but when she turned to Dolores and saw her face it was so similar to the ones she often so on her relatives when she was young. The woman was almost scared of her own daughter. "I will find a way Dolores. You are my daughter, despite what you think of me, I want the best for you."

"I just want my wand." Dolores felt nothing but disgust for the woman who condemned them both to a life of poverty and humiliation.

The day after the discussion with her mother Dolores thought that, fair or not, they had no money. If she wanted a wand she had to find a way to get some money. It shouldn't be so hard to get money. They should _have_ the money. They were Selwyns. But it was no time to complain.

The fair thing would have been to get money from the Selwyns, but how? She was just a ten year old girl with no wand and no knowledge not so ever of any kind of spell.

But she knew someone who could help her. There was a new assistant at Borgin & Burkes, a young man no one had ever seen before. She couldn't remember her name, but she remembered he was very found in the dark arts, and not of rules. Dolores met him in Diagon Alley a couple of times with her mother, and he seemed very charming and lovely. But as soon as her mother turned, and she was still looking he saw him stealing a book from a nearby shop with a very clever spell. He noticed her stare, and winked at her happily. She smiled and kept walking.

He was perfect. He will help her.

It was three days before her birthday. Her mother had to go to Diagon Alley to buy some ingredients for cleaning potions. Dolores offered to come with her. Normally she wouldn't agree, but now that they were slowly drifting apart, she took every chance to be closer to her daughter.

Once in the Alley, Dolores found a way to get away.

"Mother I'm going to wait for you in front of the wands shop."

"Dolores…"

"I will just look at them, I just want to look."

"Okay. See me there in an hour."

As soon as she was out of her sight she ran to Knockturn Alley, to Borgin & Burkes.

When she walked in the bell on the door dinged cheerfully, in contrast with the dark atmosphere of the shop. Behind the desk, the young man Dolores was looking for smiled at the last costumer leaving.

Looking at her he smiled and leaned on the desk.

"Oh hello little one. Need help finding mummy?" He smirked.

Dolores's eyes were cold and she stared back at him.

"I am not a little one. I am a pureblood witch. Please, treat me as one."

He smiled, but stood straight up and talked again, in a different tone. "I am truly sorry. May I help you? My name is Tom Riddle and I am at your service."


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

Tom Riddle. Dolores had forgotten the name, but not the face. His pale skin and dark hair gave him a dark aura she couldn't help to be attracted from.

"I need your help, not to buy something, but to get something back, something is mine for birth-right."

"What might that be?"

"It's a long story. Do you mind listening for a while?" Her tone was cold and secure. Weird coming from a ten-year-old. But no one would have crossed her if they looked at her eyes.

"Not at all. Come with me in the back. I seem to understand it is a private matter."

"Yes, it is."

Riddle walked over to a locked door in the back, which he opened and held for the little girl. He followed her in.

Dolores told him the story her mother told her, in short, not bothering with the romance details. She went straight to the point. The money. They were poor, but she thought the Selwyn money was hers by birth-right, and wanted some back, for a wand.

"I see you problem. How do you think I can help you?" Dolores thought the young man had been making fun of her since she walked in the shop, but while telling the story, she watched his face change. He seemed to be taking her seriously now.

"I have a plan. But as you might notice, I have no magic means what so ever, therefore, I need help." She went on explaining.

The plan was complicated. It involved polyjuice potion, a well played acting, and a few secrets about the Selwyn family she could use to her favor.

When she was done, she suddenly felt empty, as if trusting this man with her idea might put her in trouble if she had the wrong impression of him. She was trusting him, she had to rely on him to solve her problem. No matter who he was, she hated to depend on someone, to expose herself like this.

Finally he spoke. "Your plan is very complicated for being invented by a ten-year-old. How can I know you are not someone else disguised with polyjuice potion?"

"Who would play such a trick on you?"

"Believe me, I have my enemies. But I guess they would not need anything like this to catch me doing something."

"Does this mean you can help me."

"I can, of course. But what will I get out from this?"

Dolores had no response on this. She could offer nothing, so she said nothing.

"This would be the weak point of your plan, my dear." He got up from the chair and started walking around the room. Dolores kept her eyes on him, trying to keep her act together, but really she was so scared her voice would sound like a canary if she spoke.

"Luckily for you, I am really interested in keeping purebloods in the highest status possible." He looked at her, who now totally depended on him and on what he said next.

"I will help you. But remember," He added when she started thanking him. "Remember, I never forget my debts. When it will be time and you will have something for me, I will come and get it."

Dolores had to run back to Diagon Alley to meet her mother. If she was late, it would be suspicious. Riddle gave her a mirror, which, he said, was enchanted.

If she looked into it and said his name he would appear and they could communicate. They could arrange their plan like this, from a distance.

But Dolores still had to work on her part of the plan. She had to get the Selwyns to Diagon Alley the given day, to participate to the act and most importantly, she had to get the right Selwyn there.

It was five days before her birthday, and time was running short.

Dolores spent hours on the mirror planning every detail with Riddle, but now that her plan was coming to a determined shape, was scared.

That morning she had to get her mother to tell her a name. Her grandfather's name. He was her target. He was the one who should give her money. It was more of a way to get a wand. It was a revenge on the man who forced them both on a life of misery and loneliness. Dolores was sure that he could not be perfectly in peace with his decision, she would bet on his guilt. What old man doesn't get lonely and guilty for his mistakes when he comes near to the end of his life?

"Mother. I have question."

"What is it Dolores?"

"What is your father's name?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

"Mother you owe me at least this." She knew this would hurt her mother's feelings, and she was likely to answer.

The woman looked at her daughter with such pain in her eyes, seeing as her slowly turning into a perfect Selwyn. "His name was Charles, Charles Selwyn. Why?"

"Is he still alive?"

"Dolores, whatever you are thinking, he doesn't want anything to do with us, believe me."

"I know, I just want to know. Is he?"

"Yes." She stared at her shoes. "He lives across the street, in the Manor, as you probably figured."

"I did." Dolores walked away with a smirk on her face. She had the name.

Later, in her room, Dolores had everything ready. A letter in her pocket, a lock of brown hair took from her mother's memory box, from when she was young. She held up the mirror and said "Tom Riddle". The young man's face appeared, and he smiled.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes. I only need an owl to get the letter to the old man."

"I will send you one right now, with a bit of Floo Powder, just wait a few hours."

"I'll see you in Diagon Alley at noon tomorrow then."

"Yes. In front of the book shop, remember, I'll give you the potion and watch from a distance. I am going to help you if something goes wrong, as long as it doesn't get me in trouble."

"Of course, I understand."

"See you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow."

That night, the owl arrived at the window and Dolores attached the letter to its paw, whispering "Charles Selwyn" as the owl flew towards the Manor.

In the morning, in the Selwyn Manor, a loud gasp came from Mr. Charles Selwyn studio. In his hands, a letter was covered by tears of regret. It said this:

_Dear Lord Selwyn,_

_I am sorry to bother you with this after all these years. I am quite sure you remember me, even though you have tried so hard to delete me from all memories and records. Years ago you killed someone at me very dear, and I regretted you for this and for having ignored me all this time, but now that I have lost everything and live of nothing, I came to my senses and I wish to talk to you. _

_I won't pretend to be embraced as family again, but before your time comes and my spells still allow me to look respectable, I want to see you one last time. Please don't deny me this,_

_Your Daughter, _

_Ramona Selwyn. _


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

It was nearly noon. Dolores was hiding underneath her dark cloak. She was wearing a dress her mother kept very carefully, as the only object from her previous life. It was obviously too long and big for her, but the Polyjuice was going to solve this. She spotted Riddle at the end of the street.

How he knew that was her, she didn't know, but he walked straight to her and she put down her hood.

"Ready?"

"I'm always ready. The potion?"

He handed it to her. "Here it is. It will last an hour you know? Don't waste your time."

"It will be alright, I know what to do."

"Right. I'll wait in the corner."

Dolores turned around, put the hood back on and uncapped the bottle. The dark silver liquid shone in the midday sun. She shrugged and tilted back her head, swallowing the whole bottle at once. It tasted like toothpaste, a bit acid but not too bad.

Her body felt like liquid mud, changing its shape, melting under the shining sun and then becoming solid again. She grew almost two feet. Her hair was now swinging down her back, straight and dark. She touched her body, slowly, discovering a new shape. Now she had long arms and legs, her face was longer and skinnier. The chubby cheeks were gone and a flawless skin was tightly wrapped around her skinny hips. She looked in the glass of the window in front of her. Her mother was beautiful when she was young, not yet ruined from years of hard work and misery. Dolores obviously didn't take that from her mother, she was short and chubby, and her curly hair was crispy and dry. Now that she thought about it, she really looked like some of the Selwyn kids at the manor.

There was no time for that. Dolores was waiting for the old man, and she was not disappointed.

Charles Selwyn was walking firmly towards the bookshop, looking around, obviously searching for someone. Dolores walked up to him, in the most crowded part of the street. She needed public. "Charles Selwyn." She called loudly, so that some people were already staring.

"Are you her?" The old man stopped and looked at her, trying to look serious, but she could see in his eye that he was scared.

"Yes, this is me, your daughter Ramona." Dolores pulled down the hood and watched proudly the old man's face changing color.

"You didn't… you look so young." His pale face was rigid and scared.

"My beauty is the only thing I have left. You took away everything else. I made a point in keeping my body as young as possible."

"It… it wasn't my fault. You brought disgrace on the family and on yourself."

"And what about your grandchild, who I was expecting. What fault did they have?"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"She was a girl, but I haven't seen her in years. I had to leave her in an orphanage when she was one year old."

"A Selwyn in an orphanage?" He looked shocked.

"I had no choice. We were both starving, and a baby needs a stable life."

"What do you want from me? I can't do anything for her you know, not without admitting there is a bastard in the Selwyn family!"

"So is that what she is? A bastard? Not your granddaughter, who you have never seen, with Selwyn blood?"

"She also is part half-blood! I can't have that in my family!"

At this point everyone was trying to figure out what those two were yelling about, listening but trying not to be seen. The time was right for the scene Dolores had been planning the whole time.

She started yelling, so that the whole alley could hear. "So this is it? You are going to let your granddaughter, a Selwyn, live like a Muggle only because she was born outside a marriage? Only because her father was a mud-blood? You, Charles Selwyn, disgust me!" Dolores had very clearly stated the family name. Now the shame was going to be on him, if he didn't do anything to save the situation. The family's reputation was now on stage.

The old man seemed angry and worried. People were now staring mindlessly, whispering rumors forgotten and now back in the spot light. It was his move.

"Don't you dare put shame on my family! It is still your family too, and you can't ruin its reputation!"

"Can't I? What's in it for me anyway? I'm forced to use my beauty to survive, my only mean of survival is my body, and I can't see my own daughter without revealing her who she is, so that she will hate the family too! So maybe I should have my revenge and tell everybody the story! Maybe then, you will face the situation!"

Charles Selwyn started looking around, uneasy under everybody's eyes.

"Why now? Why now after all these years?"

Dolores didn't think of that, but an inspiration came to her mind.

"Because she is eleven, it would be time for her wand, but she doesn't even know she has the right to one!" Dolores kneeled and tried her best to look desperate. She looked up to her grandfather and screamed to the whole street. "My daughter will not live in poverty! My daughter is a pureblood witch and deserves a wand! You can't blame her for my mistakes!"

Now the noise from the crowd wasn't a whisper anymore. It was a angry shout. She had done it.

"Alright!" Charles Selwyn shouted to everyone. "I will make this right. But do not expect to be readmitted in the family! You dishonored us, and you will pay. I am only giving you as much as your daughter needs to start a new life, to redeem herself."

He tossed her a sack. "There are 50 galleons in there. Use them well. Give your daughter an instruction."

"I will."

"Of course you will." He got out his wand and pointed it at the sack. "Tell me her name."

"What?"

"Her name. Your daughter's."

"Dolores. Dolores Jane Umbridge."

"Right… Umbridge." He mumbled something under his breath, and a single white ray hit the sack, and seemed to be absorbed from it. "Now there is a spell on the money. Only Dolores can use them. You can touch them, but she is the only one who can give them away." He started to walk away, but then stopped and kneeled beside the woman, who now stared at the biggest amount of money she had ever seen in her life. People were still staring and trying to listen, so Charles Selwyn whispered to her. "Take care of her, alright? She is my granddaughter after all."

Riddle walked up to the woman, now hidden under her cloak. "It went well. Have you got the money?"

Dolores felt a shiver for that cold voice, but looked up to him and stood up. "Yes. The plan went well." She touched the sack. "I thought… If you want part of the money, you know, for the help you gave me…."

"I can get as much money as I want, I don't need any more. I will ask for your help when I will need it, I may need someone with your potential, one day."

"My… potential? But…"

"Don't worry. I will contact you, soon. Enjoy your wand." His face was cold when he said it, and he seemed a walking statue as he slowly approached the dark alley on the side.

Dolores felt her body wincing. The potion's effect was vanishing.

She ran to a dark corner between two shops and waited for the potion to fade off. She didn't have to wait long. Suddenly her body shortened, her hair winced up and became lighter, her chubby face was at its place again. Dolores already missed being taller, but seeing that sack of money in her hand cheered her up.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter__ 6_

"Where have you been?"

Yes, that had to be her mother reaction when Dolores finally returned back home. She had been out a couple of hours, and her bad luck didn't obviously allow her to do so unnoticed.

"I… I was out, for a while… doing…"

"Doing what exactly with my dress?" Ramona stared at the dress in her arms, accurately folded and strangely pompous for a ten year old.

Dolores was taken by surprise but it didn't last long, she built back her face and stared in her mother's eyes.

"You don't want to know."

"Yes I do Dolores! And if you think I don't then I really do, because it means it's something despicable!"

The child didn't answer, she just stood there, looking coldly at her mother.

"It is isn't it?" Now Ramona's voice was lower, quieter maybe, in resignation.

"I told you, you don't want to know. The only thing you need to know is" She took out the sack from her cloak. "I have enough money for a wand and much more."

Ramona Selwyn stared at those fifty galleons like she never saw money before. And then she looked at her daughter like it was the first she saw her too, for what she really was.

"How did you...?" But tears interrupted her. "What did you do? We don't need this Dolores! We can live like we always did!"

"No mother, we can't! Or maybe you can, I won't accept this! This is not the life I deserve!"

"I didn't raise you like this! To care for money more than for people, and to be so pretentious and arrogant!"

"I know how you raised me! Like a Muggle, like a filthy Muggle-born who doesn't know her place in the world! But I do now! You may be ok with being an outcast, but I'm not! We are Selwyn, and I won't live in poverty!"

Her mother was shocked, kneeling on the floor, she stared at her daughter blankly, with tears in her eyes, like she was looking at a total stranger.

"You may not have your grandfather last name, but you sure behave like him, and like all the Selwyns." She slowly got up.

"I will take to buy the wand, and everything else you need, but I won't touch a single galleon in that sack."

"You couldn't spend them anyway, he put a spell on the money, it's just for me." She bit her tongue, she said too much. Too late.

"He? Who did? Who did you get the money from Dolores?" Ramona almost didn't want to hear the answer, partly because she was scared she already knew it.

"Your father. He gave it to me, well… more or less." Said Dolores, who was thinking that Mr. Selwyn actually gave the money to her mother, not to her.

"How did you…?" She stopped, closed her eyes and turned away from that insanely cold child. "No, don't tell me."

"I don't think you want to know but… theirs is no difference. I have the money, I will go to school, and you can't stop me."

"Oh Dolores, why would I stop my daughter from getting an education? I want you to go to school, only… at what price? What did you do?"

"Do you want to know or not, mother?" Dolores was losing her patience.

"Maybe one day I will ask you Dolores, but not now, I'm not strong enough to know how similar to the horrible family I left my daughter grew up to be." She looked at Dolores with such hurting eyes, she looked like a lost puppy. Dolores was disgusted. A witch, a pureblood witch, looking like a mere mud-blood. No doubt Charles Selwyn didn't want her around anymore.

The day of Dolores's birthday arrived quickly, and she was very excited. Maybe now, for the first time in years, since she started worrying about her magic powers, she felt like a child of her age. Excited for her eleventh birthday, for her first wand, for her first year to Hogwarts.

The sixth of June was never a very warm day, but that year the weather decided that the young birthday girl had no right to spend her day outside. It was pouring rain like there will be no tomorrow.

"Good-morning Dolores. Did you sleep well?" Her mother knocked at the bedroom door.

Dolores was still in bed, and looked at the woman with curiosity. Were they still talking? In the past few days, they barely exchanged looks and a few mumbled words.

"I just wanted to say Happy Birthday. I thought you might like a bit of carrot-cake for breakfast." Ramona handed her a plate and walked out of the room, her head low, feeling her daughter eyes on her back.

Dolores sit on the mattress, slowly nibbling her cake. Why did her mother still want to talk to her? It was clear their relationship was ruined, and nothing goo could ever come out of it. Was she so desperate for affection? Was she so lonely and pathetic she needed the approval of the daughter she couldn't understand? Once again, Dolores felt disgusted by her mother, by that woman with no self respect.

Later that morning, she was sitting around the house, sawing some old clothes she would have to wear to school and had to look respectable. Her mother was at the Laurchin residence, working. No day off had been taken that year for her birthday. Good, she thought, a day with her mother would only have been embarrassing now.

Dolores was lost in these thoughts when a big grey owl flew in from the window and planted its claws in the couch next to her.

An owl! Could that be… With trembling hands she clutched the letter tied to the sharp claws, and looked at the sigil. Hogwarts! It was _the_ letter! For her! A witch, a pureblood witch actually, she thought proudly.

The content was more stuff than she expected. Rules, basic material, books and ingredients for potions, clothes, and a letter from the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

She felt so important, so proud of herself in that moment, she was glad no one was there, so she could enjoy that moment, all for herself.

An answer was requested, so she wrote back on a piece of paper and sent the owl back immediately.

It was official, she was going to Hogwarts. She finally felt like a true witch.

When her mother got back, the letter was on the kitchen table. She looked at it, and for a moment she almost looked excited too, and turned to Dolores to say something, but her enthusiasm disappeared at her daughter's the cold face.

"Just take me to Diagon Alley mother, I will do the rest."

"Of course, we can go next week." She lowered her eyes and slowly started arranging dinner, with a sad look.

No pity was in her daughter's heart, only disgust, once more.

Dolores walked to the bedroom and took the magic mirror in her hands. Maybe she could tell Tom. After all he was the only person who understood the value of being a pureblood who talked to her. She put the mirror back, telling herself not to be stupid. He wouldn't want to be bothered with this.

When she went to sleep that night, Dolores felt so good with herself, she couldn't understand why her mother was so horrified for what her daughter was becoming. She was becoming a happy witch.


End file.
